Do You Own Your Own Life?

Qualities Of A Do It First Leader

Your journey to unleashing your leadership potential begins with a great understanding of self. Discover your personality traits and how they relate to leadership.

An Exceptional Leader is one that recognizes the value of harnessing the qualities, skills and abilities of themselves and team members. When we know ourselves, we can maximize our positive traits, and become aware of our weaker areas, which help us to achieve our leadership potential. Once you understand and know yourself, next you must hone your skills. Only then can one lead their teams toward greatness.

Remember a leader is not a title and leadership is not something you are born into. Leadership is something you develop.

In order to be a great leader, one must possess various qualities, skills and abilities that will attract followers. The following qualities are just of few of the many qualities that are vital for effective leadership:

1. Charisma- charismatic leaders have the gift to touch people through their choice of words. Charismatic leaders are alluring, charming and can encourage followers to support a grand vision or idea.

2. Positive Attitude – A leader who has a positive attitude will influence his/her followers to carry that same attitude. A good example of a leader with a positive attitude could be a parent or teacher.

Mothers, fathers, or elementary teachers appear and are viewed as role models to the young children they are teaching and nurturing.

These role models are the first leaders they encounter in life. Children become very dependent of leaders because they are their vehicles to the outside world and provide much needed help and assistance.
If a parent is nurturing and loving to their child, they will thrive under this encouragement.

If a school teacher provides a positive learning experience to the child, they will succeed and that success will become contagious… In any circumstance, a leader’s positive attitude will have greater impact and influence on their followers.

3. Motivation – In an athletic world, a motivating leader could be a coach, trainer or even a fellow teammate. While the talent of players is a good determinant of a winning team, their coach is also an important factor.

If a coach can not produce a winning team, his job is at stake. A coach’s motivation involves infusing his players with high standards, and setting challenging but attainable goals as they perform well. Thus, his/her ability to motivate his players will enhance their performances.

Motivation also correlates with having a positive attitude. When a coach has a positive attitude and provides a positive environment for his players, then the team will most likely be motivated to move in his/her direction where ultimate success can be found.

4. Assertiveness – A leader has the responsibility to guide the direction of his or her company. When a leader is firm and assertive in delegating tasks to his subordinates, they will hold a greater respect to follow through on their assignments.

An assertive leader has the ability to convey enforcement without being too autocratic or threatening to their subordinates.

Furthermore, an assertive leader should not make his subordinates feel like they’re in a hostile environment. Instead, an assertive leader should respect his people, and require proper accountability at the same time. A leader’s assertiveness and confidence earns respect. With that respect, people are much more likely to follow, help, and emulate their leader to achieve success.
5. Communication – This is not limited to your public speaking skills either. This includes your writing style and your body language. Your ability to communicate effectively enhances your ability to improve interpersonal relationships.

6. Teaching and learning behaviors – This important skill is to learn how to learn. Examine different teaching methods and learning styles to identify how you and those you may lead learn best. This skill will greatly enhance your ability to make decisions and give clear instructions.

7. Self-improvement – Constent self-improvement is part of being a great leader. Self improvement and success go hand in hand to being a great leader. One must constantly strive to improve themselves and teach others to do the same. The reality is that throughout our lives we are all constantly growing and developing. Circumstances make us grow and develop, even if we do not make the conscious decision to do so. I have never met someone with great wealth or great leadership that did not have some type of outstanding library in self-development.

Some believe that if only they had more money they could have whatever they want and be on their way to self improvement. The reality is unless you are ready for leadership and great wealth you will not be able to handled it. A great example of this is looking at everyone that has won the lottery. All of them have acquired great wealth by chance however over 90% of them are dead broke and have claimed bankruptcy.

If we are to learn anything from experience this is at the top of the list “Self Improvement” Teach your team the importance of self-improvement and how important it is to there success.

I believe that the qualities, skills and abilities above are a must to be a great “Do It First Leader“.

So I want to end with this, a quote which i believe says it all. This quote is by Dr. Ken Blanchard, from his book “The Heart of A Leader” ;

“If you want to know why your people are not performing well, step up to the mirror and take a peek.”

One Response

Mike,
This is an excellent post!! So many folks ask me how is it that they can go about attracting quality people into their business and I say to them that first you must become a quality person then the rest will take care of itself.

This is one of the greatest lessons that my late mentor Jim Rohn taught me. “To Attract You Must First Become”.

If anyone is serious about becoming a leader within this industry then this post would be a fantastic place for them to start.